A “True Hollywood Tale” Of “Hit & Run”! Taking Sony’s $$! The Guber/Peters Story! Also, Making Millions For NOT Producing!

Sometimes people just don’t realize how bonkers the entertainment industry is – although now we are seeing payback for its excesses.

Several year ago there was a terrific “inside Hollywood” book about the time that Jon Peters and his partner Peter Guber ran Columbia Pictures – and it’s a great tale of superstars, big money, and foreign owners who don’t know what they are getting into when they come to Hollywood!

Here is the terrific book:

Hit & Run – by Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters

This bestselling book has been around for years, but the story is as fresh and fascinating as ever!

“Hit and Run” tells the improbable and often hilarious story of how two Hollywood film packagers went on a campaign to reinvent themselves as studio executives — at Sony’s expense!

Veteran reporters Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters chronicle the rise of Jon Peters and Peter Guber — and all the sex, drugs, and fistfights along the way.

“Hit and Run” delivers rock-solid business reporting liberally laced with inside gossip and outrageous scandal — plus later editions of the book include a new afterword bringing us up to date on the latest fallout from the “Guber-Peters” legacy at Sony.

Here is what Publishers Weekly said about the book when it was published:

“This is basically the story of two boys who never grew up, but ended up running Sony-owned Columbia Pictures into the ground. Peters, whom the Los Angeles Times described as a “seventh-grade dropout and reform school graduate who began his show-business career as Barbra Steisand’s hairdresser-boyfriend-manager,” was a master at self-promotion; only semi-literate but able to count well enough to make it big in Hollywood.”

Yes, this is the Jon Peters who got his start in Hollywood by doing Barbra Streisand’s hair! What else do you need to become a movie Producer?

Guber and Peters went on to produce a number of big hits, including “Batman”, so it wasn’t completely out of left field that the Japan-based Executives at Sony wouldn’t think the pair could run their newly acquired movie studio. And boy, is that where it gets crazy!

The business side of this book is intriguing, recounting internecine financial twists and turns after the pair are hired to run Columbia Pictures – ultimately leading to a top Sony executive exclaiming:

“Huh! You bankrupt Sony!”

This is a great inside look at how the movie industry operates, especially when outsiders try to navigate the expensive waters of Hollywood.

And if you think things have changed…now, decades later, Jon Peters returned to make big headlines – for making millions of dollars NOT to produce “Superman” films!

Jon Peters Speaks!

Writer Tatiana Siegel and The Hollywood Reporter had a fascinating, exclusive interview with the legendary Hollywood Producer Jon Peters – with a very provocative beginning…

“And With A Loaded Gun On The Coffee Table…”

How is this for a setup to the article?

“In his first interview in 10 years, and with a loaded gun on the coffee table, the legendary former hairdresser turned producer and studio chief opens up about voting for Donald — kept secret from “love of his life” Barbra Streisand — his feud with Peter Guber and how it feels to collect huge paychecks on Superman movies for doing nothing.”

Well, that grabs hold of you and never lets go, right?

The article quotes him this way regarding Barbra:

“She was probably the love of my life. Yeah. She was the most captivating, interesting, creative person I have ever met,” he says. “I owe her. I will always owe her for giving me the life that I’ve had.”

And this is also the Jon Peters who makes millions and millions of dollars for NOT actively producing “Superman” films.

Yes, he has made a fortune for staying away from the “Superman” movies!

According to the article:

“One of the first questions he answers is about his cut on Superman films. He says he took home $80 million to $85 million combined for 2006’s Superman Returns and Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel thanks to backend granted for his role in jumpstarting the franchise in the ’90s. Warners declined to comment. “I have 7.5 percent of the gross,” says Peters. “Together they did [more than] a billion.” He adds he was banned from the set of Man of Steel at the behest of producer Christopher Nolan: “My reputation scares these guys.”

This is a great article, and Tatiana Siegel weaves an amazing story of Hollywood, and of a man who has become a legend for so many reasons! Read more of it here:

It is something of an obscenity, just how much money some people can make for doing nothing, in a world blighted by poverty. As for Peters, where would he have been without Streisand? just crimping hair…
Best wishes, Pete.

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I work in entertainment - and I have been lucky enough to interview some really talented Artists - that guides my posts: interesting and provocative movies, music, social media and of course, food, since I believe strongly in the maxim, "everyone eats!"